xiv <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Fairytales</strong> www.ricpublications.com.au – R.I.C. Publications ®
Cross-curricular activities English • Introduce ‘The gingerbread man’ to the children by reading a version, preferably from a big book. Before reading, ask the children if they have heard the story before. (During reading, ask them to predict what might come next.) (Literature) • Ask the children questions about the setting and characters in the story. Display labelled pictures of the house, oven, gingerbread man, old woman, old man, cow, horse, fox and river to encourage word recognition. (Refer to the blackline on page 49.) (Language, Literacy) • While re-reading the fairytale to the children, have them chant the repetitive text ‘Run, run, as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!’ at the appropriate times. (Language) • After the children are familiar with one version of the story, introduce different versions. (Some children may have a version at home they can bring and share.) Talk about what is the same and what is different in each. (Literature) • Ask children oral comprehension questions (of a literal, inferential and applied nature) about the story; e.g. −−What did the old woman use to make the gingerbread man’s eyes? (literal) −−Why do you think the gingerbread man ran and ran? (inferential) −−What would you do if you came to a river you wanted to cross? (applied) (Language, Literacy) • Use the poster accompanying this unit to help the children retell the story in their own words. (Language, Literacy) • Add to the list of rhyming words in the story for ‘can’ and ‘ran’. (Language) • Identify the initial letter of the names of characters and objects in the story. Refer to the blackline on page 49. (Language) • Think of words to describe the appearance and personality of different characters in the story; e.g. old woman – old, kind; gingerbread man – brown, yummy, tasty, fast; fox – furry, sneaky. • A small group of children sit in a circle with the teacher. One at a time, they take turns to complete sentences such as: ‘I liked the part when …’ ‘I didn’t like the part when …’ ‘I think the gingerbread man was …’ ‘I think the fox was …’. (Language, Literacy) • Sort pictures of events in the story in sequence. Match sentence strips to each picture. Refer to the blacklines on pages 50 to 52. (Language) • Mould gingerbread playdough (see recipe on page 57) into the initial letters of characters from the fairytale or their whole name. (Language) • Follow a story map of the fairytale. The children can help to draw pictures of the setting to glue onto a chart. It should have the old woman and old man’s cottage and a winding path across fields, bushes and trees in the countryside leading to a river. The characters the gingerbread man meets can be glued at the appropriate positions. The path the gingerbread man took can be drawn as a line or in dot points. The children can hold a gingerbread man cut-out and retell the story with another child as they follow the path. (Language, Literacy) • Provide three shoeboxes or trays marked ‘Beginning’, ‘Middle’ and ‘End’ (or label a large display board in sections). The children draw and colour a picture of an event in the story. They talk about their picture and work out if the event happened at the beginning, middle or end of the story. A sentence can be scribed about it, or traced or copied by the children, depending upon their ability. They place their picture in the appropriate box. The children can view each other’s pictures and put them back in the correct boxes. (Literacy) • The children think of a different ending to the story and draw a picture about it. A sentence can be scribed about it, or traced or copied by the children, depending upon their ability. Share their endings with the class. (Language, Literacy) 42 <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Fairytales</strong>—The gingerbread man www.ricpublications.com.au – R.I.C. Publications ®
Change language